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The gray brocket deer, Mazama gouazoubira G. Fischer, 1814 , occurs in South America and presents an extensive degree of morphological and genetic variability. Previous phylogenetic research showed that the genus Mazama is polyphyletic and imposed the designation of a different genus-group name for M. gouazoubira. We aimed to review and clarify the taxonomy of M. gouazoubira through the proposal of updating the nomenclature for this taxon and by the characterization of specimens collected close to the original type locality (topotypes). The topotypes were characterized by morphological (general characterization and morphometry), cytogenetic (conventional staining, Ag-NOR, G- and C-banding, and fluorescence in situ hybridization), and phylogenetic (mitogenomes) approaches. We revealed chromosome homologies between cattle and M. gouazoubira using an entire set of cattle whole chromosome painting probes and propose an updated G-band idiogram for the species. The morphometric analysis did not discriminate the individuals of M. gouazoubira , including the topotypes, from other small brocket deer species. However, the phylogenetic analysis, based on a Bayesian inference tree of the mitogenomes, confirmed the polyphyly of the genus Mazama and supported the need to change the gray brocket deer genus-group name. Based on our revision, we validated the genus Subulo Smith, 1827 , and fixed a type species for the genus. In the absence of the holotype, we denominated a neotype described by the collection of a male topotype in Paraguay. The nomenclature rearrangement presented here is a starting point that will assist in the taxonomic resolution of Neotropical deer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brazilian dwarf brocket deer (Mazama nana; Mammalia: Cervidae) is an elusive deer species that occupies the forests of southern Brazil, northern Argentina, and eastern Paraguay. A drastic reduction in forested areas has greatly affected the species, the least studied Neotropical deer. As do many threatened and elusive species, the Brazilian dwarf brocket deer needs a refinement of its distribution that would indicate proper sites to guide its conservation in situ. This project aimed to determine species distribution in order to establish priority areas for conservation. Given the rarity and elusiveness of the species, we proposed indirect methods to achieve this objective. We tracked and collected faecal samples in protected areas spread over southern Brazil with the help of a scat detection dog. Following species identification by PCR/RFLP and sample spatialisation, we modelled the species distribution using MaxEnt software. We found that the potential geographical distribution of the Brazilian dwarf brocket deer in Brazil is spread over the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina, northern and central Rio Grande do Sul, the extreme south of São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul, eastern Paraguay, and the Misiones province in Argentina. The west and centre of Paraná state and part of western Santa Catarina state were identified as high conservation priority areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]